Obama faces energy team shuffle, tough confirmation fights

President Barack Obama won four more years in Washington Tuesday, but his energy team likely won’t be sticking around for that long, setting up some bruising confirmation fights in the Senate.

Democrats close to the Obama administration say Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar could all step down during Obama’s second term, though the timing is far from certain.

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Of course, Democrats caution that nothing is set in stone and the politics of the second term, as well as the possibility of a lengthy confirmation battle over their replacements, could dictate who stays and who goes. But even ahead of Tuesday’s election, names of potential key replacements from the ranks of both business and government were circulating in Washington.

“I’ve heard they’re not being pushed out the door. But if they stay, it’s their choice,” one official at a major environmental group said.

The resignations would add to the list of administration officials who need to be replaced and confirmed by the Senate. And, if the past four years are any indication, the push to replace the officials will give Republicans a new opportunity to attack Obama’s energy and environmental policies.

“The Republicans will use the EPA confirmation process as a Scopes ‘monkey trial’ on climate change,” said Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The prospect of grueling confirmation battles with Senate Republicans may make it more difficult for Obama’s energy team to leave. One Democrat said the officials are under “great pressure” not to resign to avoid messy confirmation conflicts.

Chu and Jackson have emerged as top targets for Republicans, who, in a barrage of hearings, prime-time television interviews and campaign ads, have accused the two of wasting taxpayer money, killing jobs and destroying the economy.

Jackson has testified before Congress so many times that Republicans have joked she should get her own parking space.

Over the past four years, she has won admiration from the environmental community for imposing tough new clean air regulations, including the first-ever climate rules for new power plants.